The City of Milwaukee on Thursday won two motions in its recently filed civil suit against one of the city's most notorious landlords that temporarily block him from acquiring more real estate and place his properties under receivership.

The city alleges the landlord, Mohammad Choudry, created a scheme to defraud city taxpayers by paying cash for distressed properties in the city, then not maintaining the properties and not paying the property taxes or municipal court fines, all while collecting rent from tenants.

The city also claims Choudry used straw buyers, intentionally misspelled the names of people and businesses on deeds, and opened multiple limited liability companies in attempts to conceal his role in the purchases of dozens of properties.

The city is seeking a total of $1.25 million in its racketeering suit against Choudry — more than $400,000 in delinquent property taxes and $850,000 in damages.

The ruling Thursday by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William Sosnay temporarily prohibits Choudry from purchasing or otherwise obtaining any more real estate in Milwaukee County. The judge also temporarily placed properties owned or managed by Choudry under court-appointed receivership, meaning a third party will collect rent from tenants at the properties, maintain and repair the properties and pay city taxes and fines to the degree possible with the rent collected.

Assistant City Attorney Kail Decker told the judge the injunctions were necessary because Choudry is "either struggling to manage his properties or is engaging in criminal activity." He added that despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars Choudry owed the city in delinquent property taxes and municipal court fines, the landlord has paid cash to acquire a dozen properties so far in 2016 alone.

Choudry appeared at the hearing without an attorney, and when called to testify, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to the majority of questions from the city attorney.

Previous owners left on hook

The city's lawsuit also alleges Choudry intentionally failed to properly record titles after purchasing properties, leaving the properties' previous owners on the hook for delinquent taxes and court fines.

Lisa Taylor was one such former homeowner who provided testimony Thursday against Choudry.

Taylor, 55, grew up in a house on N. 18th St. near Rufus King High School in the city. As an adult, she moved back to the city with her two children to care for her aging adoptive parents.

"I lived there, and my children were raised there," she said.

Though Taylor's parents gave her the home they'd owned since 1963 before they died, she ended up taking out a mortgage on the property when she faced financial trouble. She ultimately fell behind on payments and lost the house to bank foreclosure late in 2011.

The house was auctioned at a sheriff's sale for $16,700 in October 2011, and Taylor said she moved out of the house shortly after.

Then she started getting notices from the city's Department of Neighborhood Services about work that needed to be done on the house to bring it up to code. The city Treasurer's Office notified her she was delinquent on her property taxes.

Taylor, who is a supervisor at the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, described getting multiple notices a week for fines, delinquent taxes and other past due bills, all for a property she lost to foreclosure. The calls from collection agencies came twice a week.

"Every day I would come home and find green envelopes saying I stilled owed on this house," Taylor testified.

By 2015, there was a warrant issued for Taylor's arrest for $2,100 in unpaid municipal court fees.

Taylor called the city attorney's office after seeing an Oct. 24 article in the Journal Sentinel about the city's lawsuit against Choudry. Decker, the assistant city attorney, ultimately helped get the city's case against Taylor dismissed once he saw she did not own the property.

Taylor's coming forward after the city filed suit is important because it shows the city still does not know the entire scope of Choudry's operation.

"I don't know how big that universe is exactly," Decker told the court.

Through the receivership, which will last as long as the city's case is pending, Decker said he hoped to learn more about the extent of Choudry's alleged scheme.

Cary Spivak of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Read the investigation

To read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's "Landlord Games" investigation into landlords who are gaming the system to avoid paying delinquent fines and taxes, go to jsonline.com/landlordgames.